Friday, January 10, 2014

2014... the year to pause and focus.

So 2014 has arrived...

Even though I was fulfilling the shop duty for last two weeks, it felt my heart wasn't quite ready to pop right back after having to finish a very busy month. Now we are in the mid-January..., I can feel that I am finally "back".

Slowly but surely.

This year Frido and I have selected the word "focus" to be our projection word. It's not resolution... nor goals. The word just gives us gentle guidelines whenever we make decisions throughout the year. It brings awareness to what we felt is important as we welcomed the new year. The word tends to carry its own destiny (look what happened when we picked the word "expand" as last year's word) so we tried to be thoughtful as we went through the process of choosing it.

One thing we collectively decided to do as a family in order to create more focus in life is to turn off our devices when we are away from work. That means I don't check my emails or shop accounts during my non-Baum-kuchen time. I eliminated email sync function on my phone and I consciously close my web browser when I close my laptop. My work is done when I leave my studio/shop on my shop day... and I usually resume to my work mode when the girls are in bed... and really trying to shut down at 9pm. Of course... I could always use more time to work on Baum-kuchen... but I can feel the sense of space in my mind as I remind myself to pause and focus on present throughout the day instead of constantly checking emails and getting anxious about new orders or email that requires response. It's definitely a choice since Baum-kuchen is really closely tied to an online space... but I am really hoping that creating more inspiring life as a family will bring so much more to our Baum-kuchen in a long run than me just getting things done behind my laptop.

I hope your first 10 days of the year has been good ones. I sent out the first Baum-kuchen love letter few days ago and shared a quote that really resonated with us. I will share it here as a reminder for myself... and hopefully something inspiring for you when you stumble on this post!

Happy new year!

-wakako

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"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.